La Trobe University International College

The La Trobe University international college is part of our immersion program in HKU to help us enhance our English Language skills as well as providing us with an insight towards the different education systems that are available in Australia. In the college, other programs and intensive language courses are held for other international students to develop better English Language skills. Some of these programs also helps international students prepare for future studies in other Australian universities

In this part of our observation, we were able to observe other classes that was held within the college. I was able to observe a pre-intermediate class 3A GEN, which contained 15 students from a mixture of different nationalities including Saudi Arabians, Turkish, Vietnam, Mexican, Thai, and Brazilian students.

The aim of the lesson was to enhance speaking skills, stress and pronunciation. I was able to see that the lesson materials were very authentic as the worksheets provided students to put their intonation skills at work. In one of the activities, students worked in pairs to work through a maze. In order for students to complete the maze they must use the correct stress. The game was very interactive and it ensured that students worked on their stress as the right answer would be able to help them find the root to the exit.

Another activity was that students to pick a problem and to role play the problem to the class. This activity was interesting to watch as all the students communicated with each other in order to create a good role play. The last activity was for students to interview each other and to find out about the culture of each others countries.

From my observation, i think that the class was very interactive and that all the students were very interactive. The teacher also uses students prior experience and uses students name to catch their attention. The teacher also sets the context of the lesson successfully through creating a problem and role playing to set an example. She also ensured that students did not stick to the same people and the same groups by randomly pairing students together. Therefore i think that the lesson i observed was very successful and well prepared as students were motivated and that the aim of the lesson was fulfilled.